Merthyr Tydfil Football Club is a Welsh football club, nicknamed 'The
Martyrs', based at the Penydarren Park ground in Merthyr Tydfil.
The team currently play in the Premier
Division of the Zamaretto Southern League. The club are
currently in administration, starting the 2009/2010 season with a
10-point deduction, and are being managed by the Martyrs to the
Cause Supporters Trust until the end of the season after agreement
with by Birmingham-based MB Insolvency.

Contents

History

The club was formed in 1945, and joined the Welsh
League. In their first season, they finished as runners-up, and
joined the Southern League. The club were immensely successful in
their first few seasons, winning the championship in 1947-48,
1949-50, 1950-51, 1951-52 and 1953-54. In the 1947-48 championship
winning season, Merthyr only dropped one point at home (against Colchester United) and only lost
four games all season. However, despite their success, the club
failed to be elected to the Football League. The 1950-51
season ended with Merthyr winning the Southern League, the Welsh Cup, the Southern
League Cup and the Welsh Challenge Cup.

After bouncing between the various Southern League divisions
during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the club finally won their sixth
championship in 1988-89, making them joint Southern League title
record-holders together with Southampton. This time, winning the
championship meant promotion to the Football Conference, the fifth
level of English football. The club finished ninth in their first
two seasons, and then fourth. However, they then went into decline,
and were relegated back to the Southern League in 1995, and have
remained there since. They should have been relegated a season
earlier, but were reprieved when Northern Premier League
champions Marine
failed to meet the stadium criteria for the league.

Being a Welsh club playing in an English League, Merthyr Tydfil
were able to play in both the FA
Cup, and the Welsh
Cup until the Welsh FA stopped the
Welsh clubs in the English pyramid from entering.

Penydarren Park, home of Merthyr Tydfil
Football Club

The club's best FA Cup
performance has been to reach the second round, which they managed
in 1946-47 (losing 3-1 to Reading), 1954-55 (losing 7-1 to Bradford
City), 1973-74 (losing 3-0 to Hendon), 1979-80 (losing 3-1 in a replay
with Chesham United) and 1990-91 (losing
5-1 to Woking). The
only time the club managed to defeat a Football League club in the
FA Cup was in the first round of the 1946-47 cup, when they beat Bristol
Rovers 3-1.

The club were considerably more successful in the Welsh Cup,
which they have won on three occasions; 1949 (beating Swansea
City 2-0), 1951 (beating Cardiff City 3-2 in a replay) and
1987 (beating Newport County 1-0 in a replay).
In addition, the club finished as runners-up in 1947 and 1952.

After winning the final in 1987, the club were allowed to enter
the European Cup Winners' Cup. In the first round, they
were drawn against the Italian club Atalanta. The club managed a win in the
first leg at home, beating the Italians 2-1. However, the return
leg was lost 2-0, and the club were out.

Currently, the club's biggest rivals are Gloucester City. The two clubs
have played over 120 times in their history, making it the most
played Anglo-Welsh derby in football. Their other main rivals are
Newport County, who are currently
in the league
above.